Chapter 4: 4 – Trouble’s First Head

I was laying out on the hill near Cressida’s house, looking up at the sky as clouds passed by. She was lying right next to me doing the same thing. I don’t remember how we got here. I also don’t know why we’re in summer clothes, it’s autumn now and much closer to winter, so we should be getting breezes that are just a bit too cold. But it’s sunny and the breezes are refreshing instead of freezing.

 

Am I dreaming again?

 

“Auntie Petra’s going to be coming to live with us soon. She’s bringing my cousins with her.” Cressida brings it up casually, like mentioning an interesting cloud shape.

 

“Why is that?”

 

“Father doesn’t want her to be left alone after Uncle Ennius went to live in the sky. She was taking care of him while he was sick and since she doesn’t want to get married again her family won’t let her come back.”

 

Mr. Ennius? Dead? He’s the healthiest man I’ve ever seen. I watched him jump from the third-floor window of the Lauressier townhouse in Swindon and go running in the snow almost half naked and only have a bad headache the next day. What could’ve made him that sick?

 

“What did he get sick with? Was it a bad cold?”

 

“The doctor said they couldn’t tell what was making him sick. No matter what they did he just got sicker and sicker. Remember when I went to go see him a couple of months ago?”

 

No, no I do not. “Yeah.” I turned my head over to look at Cressida as she began to speak again.

 

“He looked… bad. His face was all covered in spots and his eyes were stuck closed from something weird, it looked like moldy cheese. And he was having such a hard time breathing… Is it bad that I think it’s better that he…” She let out a breath. “That he died? He was just in so much pain…”

 

I reached over to hold her hand and squeezed it tight. “It’s not bad. It means you were thinking about him. It means you’re a good person.”

 

Cressida nodded and scooted closer until we were touching shoulder to shoulder and leg to leg, resting her body almost on top of me when she rolled over a bit. We were still holding hands.

 

“I hope so.”

 

The scene changed all of a sudden to… a funeral? Whose funeral is this? Then I heard Cressida’s painful cries and broke out of my confusion. She was wearing all black and being pulled away from the coffin by her father.

 

“MAMA! MAMA DON’T GO! LET GO OF ME, LET GO! MAMA!”

 

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Mama? Auntie Vita? That’s not possible, it can’t be.

 

Mr. Lauressier’s face was dark, and his eyes were red as he pulled Cressida away from the coffin, still kicking and screaming, and whispering things to her in a hoarse voice. He held her tight and didn’t seem to care that he was being hit all over by her thrashing. I wanted to go forward and hug her too, try and calm her down, but I couldn’t move at all for some reason. I was stuck to the spot, only able to move my head around. My mouth wouldn’t open either.

 

The coffin was open, for final goodbyes. There was no mistake that it was Auntie Vita, white hair tied back and a tired expression on her face in a beautiful red dress, her resting colors. There were people crying all around me, dressed in black, holding each other. But something caught my eye.

 

That woman whose body was seemingly shaking from how hard she was crying, was laughing under a black veil. Who in the world was laughing at a time like this?

 

And before I could get angry enough I woke up after wedding bells rang in my head.

 

I shot up as soon as my consciousness came back and took deep breaths as I looked around so fast I got dizzy. I was still in the library, but the sky was bright. I had fallen asleep and had another “prophecy” that left me shaking again. Just what exactly was going on? Before I could even get a grasp on reality again, the door to the library was opening and a familiar head peeked in.

 

“Oh, there you are Ada. We’ve been looking all over for you! Why do you always wake up early enough to scare the sun?”

 

“Auntie Vita…” There she was, alive and well, wearing a nice blue day dress with her snow-white hair still down and gold eyes looking at me with a sort of expression I’d gotten used to. Fond annoyance.

 

“I don’t know what you find so comfortable about the floors, dear, really. Now up, go wash up and change for breakfast. Your mama is going to be coming to pick you up in a few hours.”

 

“Auntie, is Mr. Ennius alright?”

 

Auntie Vita made a strange face at my question, her pretty face scrunching up a bit as she thought. “Yes? He’s quite fine, actually. Why do you ask?”

 

“I just had a dream about him jumping from the windows again.”

 

“Oh, perish the thought. I still can’t believe almost half the community saw my brother-in-law's family jewels, much less at a party I was throwing. Please, never bring that up again, dear. It’s not good for young minds.”

 

I nodded in agreement as Auntie Vita tugged me up gently by the arms and held my hand as we left the library and walked to the bathroom, wiping my face with a warm rag and scrubbing particularly behind my ears as she did so. I was completely spaced out looking at her as she did, watching her face with more intent than I had read all those books before.

 

Ebele had given me a warning. One that would involve the lives of two people and probably led indirectly to Cressida becoming an attempted murderer. Which meant it’d be back to the books. But not until I had breakfast.

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